Official UK procurement notice
Provision of 24/7 Emergency Overhead Line Equipment (OLE) Response and Repair Services for Midland Metro Limited (MML)
Authority: West Midlands Combined Authority (Local council)
What is being bought
Published requirement descriptionProvision of 24/7 Emergency Overhead Line Equipment (OLE) Response and Repair Services for Midland Metro Limited (MML)
Purpose of Engagement
The Authority is undertaking a pre-market engagement exercise for Midland Metro Limited to inform the development of its procurement strategy and future requirements. Interested organisations are invited to complete the accompanying Pre-Market Engagement (PME) Questionnaire to provide information on market capability, innovation, capacity, and potential delivery approaches.
Participation in this exercise is entirely voluntary and is being conducted in accordance with the principles of transparency, equal treatment and non-discrimination.
Important Information
- This questionnaire is issued for information gathering purposes only and does not form part of any formal procurement process.
- Participation in this pre-market engagement exercise will not confer any advantage or disadvantage in any subsequent procurement procedure.
- The Authority reserves the right to use the information obtained to help shape its future requirements, specification, procurement strategy, commercial model, and route to market.
- Any future procurement opportunity will be advertised separately and interested suppliers will need to register and submit responses in accordance with the requirements of that procurement process.
- Responses should be submitted via the e-tendering portal by Friday 18th September 2026 12 noon.
Confidentiality
The Authority will treat responses in confidence and use the information solely for the purposes of informing its market analysis and procurement planning. Suppliers should clearly identify any information they consider commercially sensitive.
How to Participate
Suppliers wishing to participate should download and complete the Pre-Market Engagement Questionnaire and return it through Proactis (e-tendering portal) by the stated deadline. Please ensure you have completed the registration process for Proactis, the WMCA's e-tendering portal (procontract.due-north.com ↗).
Proactis Project Reference: DN824087.
CPV: Electrical services · Overhead line construction · Railway engineering services · Repair and maintenance services
The lotProcurement structure
single lot · no lot value publishedPipeline intelligence · planning stage: how this market runs before the tender is published
How West Midlands Combined Authority buys Construction work for pipelines, communication and power lines, for highways, roads, airfields and railways; flatwork (CPV 4523), and who usually turns up
West Midlands Combined Authority’s published record next to the market for the same work. Frameworks and DPS are left out: they draw different bid counts. Whole-market view: Construction work for pipelines, communication and power lines, for highways, roads, airfields and railways; flatwork (CPV 4523) →
How the contest usually goes
Winner shares use published awards; bid and price charts use contested lots.
i
How often small and medium firms win.
Share of awards where the winner’s size is known.
The counts under this question show how many awards have a known supplier size.
Small firms have won here. Neither number says whether you qualify; it describes who has been winning.
i
How often local firms win similar work.
Winners with a registered address in the delivery region, out of awards with a known address.
Local means the winner is registered in the region where that award was delivered. The market figure counts awards delivered in West Midlands.
A local branch does not count if the registered address is elsewhere.
Most of this buyer’s recorded winners were registered outside the region where that award was delivered.
i
How long buyers here take to decide after bids close.
Middle value in days from the bid deadline to the award date, on competitions that published both.
Only decided tenders count, so slow ones still waiting are not in.
Half of these awards have an award date within 26 days of the bid deadline.
i
How often work is awarded with no recorded rival.
Direct awards and tenders where every published lot count shows one bid.
Both shares are minimums: some awards have no bid count.
Thin markets produce this too; it is not proof of a tailored specification.
Direct awards or one recorded bid are common here. Check the route before spending time on a bid.
How many bids did past lots attract?
i
How many bids past lots received.
Each colour is a bid-count range. Only competed lots with a published count are included.
Past bids do not predict this tender.
1 bid17% / 6%
2–325% / 39%
4–650% / 22%
7+8% / 33%
How did awards compare with estimates?
i
Where winning prices landed against estimates.
Each colour shows awards below, close to or above the published estimate, one lot at a time.
Past prices are a guide, not a bid price.
Below estimate33% / 48%
Within ±2%47% / 22%
Above estimate20% / 30%
Assess each lot i
What past awards tell you about each lot.
See the forecast, this buyer’s earlier suppliers and firms with relevant wins.
No supplier is confirmed as a bidder.
i
What past awards tell you about each lot.
See the forecast, this buyer’s earlier suppliers and firms with relevant wins.
No supplier is confirmed as a bidder.
Open a lot for its forecast, this buyer’s previous supplier and possible competitors, from published award history, not a bid list
Lot #1CPV 4523Published estimate£600k
i
How many bids this lot may attract.
The forecast uses similar past competitions. The bar shows either that forecast or past bid counts; the line below says which.
Each lot shows its own forecast based on its own category; forecasts for different lots of the same notice are not comparative. The bar shows 18 past lots.
A forecast, not a list of bidders.
1 bid6%
2–339%
4–622%
7+33%
i
Where the award price may land.
The forecast uses similar awards and the buyer’s estimate. The band covers the middle half of likely prices.
No comparable awards for this lot yet.
A statistical guide from past awards, not a price to bid.
Who has supplied this buyer on similar work? i
Who has done similar work for this buyer.
Past contracts are matched by buyer, title and type of work.
A past supplier may not bid again.
i
Who has done similar work for this buyer.
Past contracts are matched by buyer, title and type of work.
A past supplier may not bid again.
| Supplier | This buyer’s earlier contract | Lot | Award value | Why listed |
|---|---|---|---|---|
| QTS Group LtdEarlier contract | Midland Metro Limited (MML) - Overhead Line Equipment Services Frameworknotice published Sept 2024 | Overhead Line Equipment Services Single Supplier Framework | — | Matched as the earlier contract |
Who could compete for this lot? i
Who could compete for this lot?
Firms with relevant past wins. On a framework, we show firms on that agreement.
None is confirmed as a bidder.
i
Who could compete for this lot?
Firms with relevant past wins. On a framework, we show firms on that agreement.
None is confirmed as a bidder.
Candidate suppliers for this notice have not been worked out yet, so this is not a verdict that nobody fits.
About this data
- Source. Official UK public procurement notices (Find a Tender), reused under the Open Government Licence v3.0. New notices arrive through the day; the figures are rebuilt nightly.
- Two views, kept apart. The authority’s own track record and the wider market for the same kind of work sit side by side and are never mixed. Where the local picture is too thin, a figure widens to a broader market and says which one it used.
- Forecasts are labelled. The price forecast and its range, possible competitors and the earlier-work matches are our estimates from past awards: not published facts, not win chances and not price advice. Official notices do not say who is bidding.
- Every figure shows what it rests on. Not every notice publishes a bid count, a value or a delivery region, so each figure carries the number of records behind it, and one built on few records is marked as such. The on a figure explains it; the counting rules are in the methodology. Spotted something wrong? Tell us.
What this replaces i
Who has done similar work for this buyer.
Past contracts are matched by buyer, title and type of work.
50% title match.
A past supplier may not bid again.
i
Who has done similar work for this buyer.
Past contracts are matched by buyer, title and type of work.
50% title match.
A past supplier may not bid again.
The prior contract this notice most likely re-tenders · matched by title and category (50% title match), the holder is not guaranteed to re-bid
Midland Metro Limited (MML) - Overhead Line Equipment Services Framework — held by QTS Group Ltd; no contract end date published.
Procedure terms & legal framework
From the official record- Legal basis
- UKPGA · 2023/54 Procurement Act 2023
- Procurement category
- Services
- Notice status
- Planned procurement
- Procurement threshold
- Above threshold (FTS publication)
- Regulatory regime
- Utilities
- Commercial structure
- Stand-alone contract (no framework)
- Competition type
- Competitive procedure
- GPA / WTO covered
- Unspecified in notice
- Recurring procurement
- Unspecified in notice
- First published
- 26 Aug 2026, 20:05 BST
- Last source update
- 26 Aug 2026, 20:05 BST
- FTS notice number
2026/S 000-081543- Latest notice
- Preliminary market engagement notice (UK2)
- Classification (CPV)
- Delivery area
- Official registry OCID
ocds-h6vhtk-06ed10Find a Tender
How it was run
Official notice- Submission deadline
- —
Timeline
26 Aug 2026 → 1 Apr 2027 · 3 dates- Planning notice published60 days ago26 Aug 2026, 20:05 BST
- Market engagement37 days ago18 Sept 2026, 23:59 BST
Provision of 24/7 Emergency Overhead Line Equipment (OLE) Response and Repair Services for Midland Metro Limited (MML)
Purpose of Engagement
The Authority is undertaking a pre-market engagement exercise for Midland Metro Limited to inform the development of its procurement strategy and future requirements. Interested organisations are invited to complete the accompanying Pre-Market Engagement (PME) Questionnaire to provide information on market capability, innovation, capacity, and potential delivery approaches.
Participation in this exercise is entirely voluntary and is being conducted in accordance with the principles of transparency, equal treatment and non-discrimination.
Important Information
- This questionnaire is issued for information gathering purposes only and does not form part of any formal procurement process.
- Participation in this pre-market engagement exercise will not confer any advantage or disadvantage in any subsequent procurement procedure.
- The Authority reserves the right to use the information obtained to help shape its future requirements, specification, procurement strategy, commercial model, and route to market.
- Any future procurement opportunity will be advertised separately and interested suppliers will need to register and submit responses in accordance with the requirements of that procurement process.
- Responses should be submitted via the e-tendering portal by Friday 18th September 2026 12 noon.
Confidentiality
The Authority will treat responses in confidence and use the information solely for the purposes of informing its market analysis and procurement planning. Suppliers should clearly identify any information they consider commercially sensitive.
How to Participate
Suppliers wishing to participate should download and complete the Pre-Market Engagement Questionnaire and return it through Proactis (e-tendering portal) by the stated deadline. Please ensure you have completed the registration process for Proactis, the WMCA's e-tendering portal (procontract.due-north.com ↗).
Proactis Project Reference: DN824087.
- Today26 Oct 2026
- Contract startsin 157 days1 Apr 2027, 00:00 BST
Notice history
1 event · 1 release on Find a Tender- Preliminary market engagement notice published26 Aug 2026, 20:05 BSTUK2
Commercial outcome & contract awards
Pipeline notice- Awards (0)
- No award published
- Contracts (0)
- No contract published
- Bid statistics
- No aggregate bid statistics published
Contracting authority & participating public bodies
Official documents & specifications (1)
Official links; attachments are not copiedNotices published for this procedure
- Preliminary market engagement notice Preliminary market engagement notice on Find a Tender